The meat industry isn’t just a deadly place for farm animals, but can be lethal for workers too, many of whom are immigrants—and some are children, despite laws prohibiting child labor. Working in factory farms and slaughterhouses is among the most dangerous jobs in the nation, and workers often have little to no protection or recourse.
In August 2025, following the deaths of six people on a dairy farm, The New York Times reported that the dairy industry “can be especially treacherous for farmworkers,” who may die from being crushed in machinery, suffocating in silos, or choking on gases released by manure.
A 2018 investigation found two amputations per week among workers in U.S. meat plants, and that these individuals are three times more likely to suffer a serious injury compared to the average U.S. worker. Yet, the shocking reality is that injuries are probably even more common than we know, because they sometimes go ignored and uninvestigated.
